Horse Slaughtering for Food Set to Resume With USDA OK

June 29 (Bloomberg) -- A New Mexico company is slated to be
the first to slaughter horses for human consumption in the U.S.
since 2007 after federal authorities agreed to issue a permit
required for its operation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is close to
approving two additional horse-slaughter plants, said yesterday
it was required by law to issue the permit to Valley Meat Co. in
Roswell once the company had met the requirements. The last U.S.
horse-meat plant closed six years ago after Congress banned
funding for inspections for such facilities. That ban lapsed in
2011 and measures to renew it are before lawmakers.

“The administration has requested Congress to reinstate
the ban on horse slaughter,” USDA press secretary Courtney Rowe
said yesterday in an e-mail. “Until Congress acts, the
department must continue to comply with current law.”

Valley Meat, which previously processed cattle at its
facility about 8 miles from downtown Roswell, is one of several
applicants asking the USDA to provide inspectors. The USDA said
it expects to issue permits for facilities in Gallatin,
Missouri, and Sigourney, Iowa, as soon as July 1.

Three Weeks

The USDA told Valley Meat it will be at least three weeks
before it can provide inspectors, A. Blair Dunn, an attorney
representing the company, said in an interview. Valley Meat sued
the agency last year for delays in granting inspections.

“They really don’t want this plant to open and they are
actually lobbying for the funding to stop from Congress in the
future,” Dunn said in an interview. “They may not follow
through.”

Horse slaughter has been an emotional issue among animal-welfare advocates in the U.S., where eating of horse meat is
rare and surveys show most Americans oppose the practice.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals said it is “dismayed” by the USDA decision. “Horse
slaughter is inherently cruel,” the organization said in a
statement.

“Moving ahead with a government program to fund horse
slaughter inspections is a cruel, reckless and fiscally
irresponsible move,” said Nancy Perry, senior vice president of
ASPCA government relations, in an e-mail.

Necessary Disposal

Still, many farmers and ranchers say humane slaughter is
necessary to dispose of unwanted animals.

“We realize that a lot of people view horses as companions
more than working animals, but a person who has a working horse
has a different perspective,” said Mike White, president of the
New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau, in an interview. Without a
slaughter facility, horse owners are abandoning animals or
shipping them to Mexico to be killed.

An appropriations bill to fund the USDA, which the House
may consider as early as the week of July 8, would block
spending for inspections at horse-slaughter facilities,
effectively banning the practice through Sept. 30, 2014.

Similar language was included in a Senate measure the
Agriculture Committee approved June 20 and sent to the full
Senate for consideration.

“Congress should promptly reinstate the provision that
prohibited spending federal dollars to inspect horse
slaughter,” Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from
Connecticut, said in an e-mail.

Dunn said Valley Meat anticipates shipping to distributors
in Europe. He said there have been inquiries from curious
individuals in the U.S., and there may be some restaurants
interested in the meat too.

“Nothing serious has materialized as far as anyone in the
U.S.,” Dunn said. “If there is a demand in this country, then
yes,” the company would sell the meat.